The beta versions of the Copernicus App Lab streaming data library and linked open data tools have been launched. They offer easy access to EO data. The developers with the best ideas how to use the tools in a mobile app will be rewarded with a wildcard to attend the ESA’s Space App Camp in 2018 (with their travel and accommodation costs fully covered).

Copernicus, the European Union's EO programme, provides valuable information about our planet for the benefit of its citizens. Thanks to the Copernicus App Lab’s linked open data tools, those interested can connect this data with other information on administrative areas, land cover, river networks, and much more. This makes it possible to develop novel EO-based applications and services while improving utilisation of the data in question.

An ideal development environment for EO-based mobile applicationsThe Copernicus App Lab offers intuitive tools the mobile developer community can use to augment Copernicus data with a broad range of cross-domain datasets through advanced data access protocols. In this process, advanced analytics are also available to help combine sets of linked data, answer questions, and generate information for applications. Furthermore, semantically enhanced metadata makes it easy to locate the exact data needed, and prototyping is much faster thanks to the option to reuse area-specific expertise based on corresponding ontologies.

To get users involved from an early stage, mobile developers are now being invited to test the Copernicus App Lab linked data tools and services and share their experiences with the international Copernicus App Lab consortium, which consists of the following partners: AZO, the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (UoA), Terradue Srl, RAMANI, and VITO.

Copernicus App Lab tools enrich winning Space App Camp application 2017The developer team Limoncello makes use of augmented reality and data provided by the Copernicus programme in its latest creation, AiR. This iOS app displays an interactive projection of the world that shows users information about the cities and landmarks they fly over, without disruptions like clouds or the plane itself getting in the way. In 2017, AiR won the sixth edition of the ESA Space App Camp.

AZO Anwendungszentrum GmbH Oberpfaffenhofen is an international networking and branding company initiating the most important space-related innovation competitions with more than 15,000 participants, over 200 industrial & public - and 400 international stakeholders. The Masters Series, presented by AZO consists of European Satellite Navigation Competition (ESNC), Copernicus Masters, Space Exploration Masters, and INNOspace Masters. AZO has been supporting entrepreneurship with more than 130 company foundations to date and the creation of 1,800 high-tech jobs in Bavaria with an annual turnover of about EUR 150 million. Additionally, AZO runs a very successful business angel network which invested more than EUR 130 million Venture Capital in 2016/17 as well as the ESA Incubation Centre (ESA BIC) Bavaria. For more information, please visit www.space-of-innovation.com

The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens was founded in 1837 and it is the oldest university in Greece. The Department of Informatics and Telecommunications (http://www.di.uoa.gr) has been active since 1986 and it is widely recognized as the top Computer Science department in Greece. For the years 2009-2011, the department has been ranked among the top-100 departments in Computer Science internationally by the Academic Ranking of World Universities founded and compiled by the Shanghai Jiaotong University. http://en.uoa.gr/

Terradue Srl is addressing the Earth Sciences research & education sector, with core competencies aimed at engineering distributed systems & Cloud services, providing consultancy for international organisations, and developing partner programs for Terradue’s Open Source Software & Open Standards strategy. Terradue is a leading Cloud Services provider with current developments focusing on empowering researchers within seamless eScience infrastructures, for curating and delivering scientific information, and to create Cloud marketplaces for environmental data analytics and promoting a vision where scientific publications are fully reproducible, verifiable experiments and part of an interoperable ecosystem. www.terradue.com

Ramani B.V. (RAMANI), after the Swahili word for ‘Map’, was founded as spin-off company of the Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation of the University of Twente (ITC) with support from the Knowledge Park Twente. RAMANI has made significant contributions to advancement of public usage of EO-data by co-organising multiple international innovation competition events. RAMANI’s expertise as key-technology provider for some of Europe’s largest innovation competition for Earth monitoring data – the Copernicus Masters – and various App Developer Camps was funded under contract with ESA. https://ramani.ujuizi.com/

VITO is a leading European independent research and technology organisation in the areas of cleantech and sustainable development, elaborating solutions for the large societal challenges of today. VITO provides innovative and high-quality solutions, whereby large and small companies can gain a competitive advantage, and advises industry and governments on determining their policy for the future. VITO has 750 highly qualified employees who work on international projects all around the world. VITO’s headquarters are located in Mol, Belgium, and the company has a subsidiary in China. The total turnover of VITO amounted to about 140 million euros in 2014. https://vito.be/en